The Americas Foundation Fundacion de las Americas

The Foundation supported 253 students on scholarship to study basic academics and arts education at the La Esperanza schools. Each student was sponsored by a $564 scholarship to study language, instrumental and choral music, ballet, sports, plastic arts, computer science and nutritional ecology.

The Foundation initiated and suported the More Art = Less Violence free Arts and Sports program for disadvantaged youth ages 12 to 17. Instruments were purchased for a youth orchestra and instruction was sponsored for classes of string instruments, violin, viola, cello and double bass, woodwinds, clarinetes, saxophones and flutes, percussion and horns, trumpets, trombones, french horns, etc. Also sponsored were classes in guitar and jazz dance as well as volleyball. 105 adolescents participated in the program offered on Saturdays and after school

The Americas Foundation supported volunteer programs for construction and maintenance of schools. A 17 ft high retaining wall and 66 ft long retaining rock wall were built to support the amphitheater arch foundations as well as a future library. A concrete perfomance platform was built and tiled for a kindergarten. The first floor of a bathroom building was remodelled to accomocate music practice areas and storage of instruments. A concrete wall was built around an exterior school stage area. Volunteers also participated in painting classrooms, creating tile mosaics for schools and installing a chain link fence around large school vegetable gardens. Over 400 volunteers participated over the year benefitting the community of 400,000 people at the US/Mexico border.